Implement mat



United States Patent O 3,442,376 IMPLEMENT MAT Patricia Ann McDivit, 987 Delight Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45238 Filed June 29, 1967, Ser. No. 650,123 Int. Cl. A61b 19/02 U.S. 'Cl. 206 63.5 7 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to set-up trays frequently used in dental ofiices.

In the modern-day practice of dentistry, a set-up tray is generally provided for each dental patient. The dentist, having a list of patients expected and knowing approximately the treatment each will require, may make up the evening before a single set-up tray for each patient expected the next day. Each set-up tray for each patient is provided with the required instruments and/or other necessary materials, that is, all implements, requisite to those functions that will be performed upon the patient. Such preliminary preparation, through use of the set-up tray, makes kfor more eflicient use of the dentists time during treatment of the patient, as well as permits the dentist to see a greater number of patients in a lesser amount of time.

A typical dental set-up tray is manufactured of stainless steel. The tray has a fiat bottom and upstanding sides about the periphery of the tray bottom. The sides of the tray may be upwardly flared or otherwise configured in such a manner as to cooperate with specially adapted tray storage cabinets. Such cabinets may hold upwardly of a dozen or so set-up trays in the prepared or ready state.

In following good dental hygiene, the practice among dentists is that either cloth or paper toweling must be used as a mat to cover the bottom of a set-up tray prior to that tray being provided with the necessary instruments and/or other materials required for an individual patient. However, both cloth and paper toweling have a number of distinct disadvantages -which cause their use as mats for set-up trays to be less than satisfactory.

For example, certain dental instruments have sharply protruding points and these instruments become caught'in cloth toweling when the dentist attempts to remove such instruments from the cloth mat on the tray. Oftentimes the dentist must grope for an instrument on the tray because the tray is normally positioned in back of him as he works on the patient. When the instrument becomes caught in the towel, it is not uncommon for the toweling to be completely pulled off the tray and, therewith, all the instruments and other materials on the tray. Of course, such a situation cannot be tolerated. In addition, clean cloth toweling must be used for each set-up tray, again because of hygienic considerations, and continuous cleaning of such toweling may prove relatively expensive in the long run. Also, because the instrument and/or other materials are not restrained in preset positions, they tend to conglomerate into confusion and disorder on the tray, thereby forcing the dentist to hunt for the desired implement.

The primaryobjection to paper toweling is that com- Patented May 6, 1969 ICC mercially available In addition, desired tray ing time consuming and burdensome, but negating of the folds inherent in the toweling, as delivered, so as to make it lie flat is oftentimes relatively difficult. Thus, paper toweling has also been found unacceptable and inconvenient for use with dental set-up trays.

This invention is based on the concept of an implement mat for use with set-up trays comprising, for example, at least a first working area having a ridged cross-sectional configuration for presenting instruments in predetermined positions, the mat having peripheral dimensions substantially the same as the bottom of the tray.

The implement mat of this invention obviates the problems described above with relation to cloth and paper toweling now used as mats .for dental set-up trays. In addition, the implement mat of this invention is readily sterilizable in sterilization baths that are commonly found in dental oliices so as to be reusable almost indefinitely. Also, the implement mat retains in a predetermined position, and presents in an optimum fashion to the dentist those implements and/or other materials necessary in treating a patient.

Therefore, it has been an objective of this invention to provide an implement mat that obviates the problems found in the prior art methods of establishing set-up trays.

It has been another objective of this invention to provide an implement mat that has a sufficient number of working areas to restrain relevant dental implements thereon in predetermined positions for general type treatments of dental patients.

It has been a further objective of this invention to provide an implement mat that is sterilizable in sterilization baths commonly found in dental offices, thereby providing the mat with a long, useful life.

Other objectives and advantages of the invention will be more apparent from the following dettailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an implement mat for-med in accordance with this invention in combination with a dental set-up tray;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional View along lines 2 2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 3 3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 4 4 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 5 5 of FIGURE 1 FIGURE 6 is a eros-sectional view taken along lines 6 6 of FIGURE l v FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 7 7 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 8 8 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along linesv 9 9 of FIGURE 1.

As is illustrated in FIGURE 1, an implement mat 10 of this invention is preferably used in combination with a dental set-up tray 11, the dental set-up tray 11 comprising a fiat bottom portion, not shown, and upstanding side edges 12 about the periphery of the bottom portion. The upstanding side edges 12 may be curved at the top, as at 13, to provide a rim 14 along the outermost edge of the tray. Such a dental tray 11 configuration permits easy handling of the tray itself and permits the tray to be stored in specially designed dental tray storage cabinets that are commercially available. Preferably, the dental tray 11 is fabricated from stainless steel.

The mat 10 is preferably configured about its periphery 1S so as to cover the entire bottom of the dental 3 set-up tray 11. Preferably, the mat 10 is of a thickness 17 less than the height of the upstanding edges 12 of the set-up tray 11 so as to aid in preventing instruments and the like from falling off the tray.

The mat 10 is provided with a first working area 16 that is ridged or ribbed in cross-sectional configuration, the ridges 19 preferably being immediately adjacent each other, see FIGURE 2. This ridged or first working area 16 of the implement mat 10 is provided to aid in restraining dental instruments such as, for example, mirrors, explorers, cotton pliers, scalers, and the like, from moving about the bottom of the set-up tray once they have been placed in predetermined positions thereon. Preferably, tops 18 of the ridges 19 are spaced on the order of 3% inch apart as this spacing has been found convenient for use with dental instruments. The ridge tops 18, however, may be spaced any suicient distance one from the other that will aid in restraining the various long-handled dental instruments from rolling about and becoming displaced in the tray. Although the first working area. 16 of the implement mat 10 has been shown as constituting approximately one-half of the surface area of the mat, it will be understood that other geometric surface area distributions may be established for the first working area, as well as all other working areas of the mat.

A second working area 21 of the implement mat 10 is provided with suitable structure defining a plurality of slits 22 and holes 23 in the mat. This second working area 21 is subdivided into a sanding disc area 24 wherein slits 22 are provided to hold sanding discs 27, see FIG- URE 4. The slits 22 are widthwise dimensioned so as to restrain the discs 27, in a frictional manner, in an upright position. The slits 22 are preferably positioned one from the other a distance sufiicient to permit the dentist to reach in between succeeding discs 27 and withdraw the desired disc without knocking the remaining discs out of position.

A second subdivision of the second working area 21 is the burr and drill retention area 28. This area 28 is provided with a series of holes 23, see FIGURE 3, for presenting burrs 29 and mandrels, not shown, in the upright position. Because burrs 29 are generally of a lesser shaft diameter than mandrels, it will be noted that different size holes 23 are provided. The holes 23 are spaced a sufficient distance one from the other to permit a dentist to withdraw a burr or mandrel without knocking those remaining out of position. The holes 23 are dimensioned so as to retain the burrs and mandrels, in a frictional manner, in an upright position. By a frictional manner is meant that the opening in the mat 10 such as, for example, a slit or a hole, is sized so that it expands upon receiving a disc, burr shaft or mandrel shaft and thereafter contracts to cause the mat to grip the item and retain it in position relative to the mat.

A third working area 31 of the mat 10 is provided with wells 32 in the mat of various depths and/ or dimensions, see FIGURES -7, so as to hold in the upright position various vials and/or medicament bottles that may be necessary for a particular dental treatment. For example, the hexagonally configured well 32 can be sized to receive a Dappen dish whereas the rectangularly and circularly configured wells can be sized to receive bottles of various medicaments. A series of depressions 33 can also be provided in this third working area 31, if desired, to receive pre-mixed substances that may be required in patient treatment, see FIGURE 8.

A fourth working area 36 of the mat 10 is provided with a raised, smooth surface 37, see FIGURE 9, so as to establish a mixing area whereon various filler-type substances and/or other medicaments can be mixed immediately prior to use on the patient, if desired.

The implement mat is preferably made of a resilient type of plastic material that is readily sterilizable in sterilization baths commonly found in dental oices. The implement mat 10 material should be relatively pliable 4 in nature so as to permit ready handling and storage of same, and to permit frictional engagement of sanding discs, burrs, mandrels, and the like with the mat. A copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate has been found to be an extremely useful material in fabricating the implement mat 10 of this invention. Preferably, the plastic material used will provide a mat 10 with a coefficient of friction between about 0.3 and about 0.7, although a coefficient of friction of about 0.4 to 0.6 is especially preferred. It has been found that mats 10 with such a coefficient of friction aid in the restraining of the various dental implements on the mat. By coefficient of friction is meant, more specifically, the coefficient of sliding friction.

Although the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to an implement mat useful with dental set-up trays, it is meant that equivalent implement mats useful with, for example, medical set-up trays, also be included within the scope of the invention. Also, even though the mat embodiment described has been illustrated with a substantially rectangular periphery it will be understood that other peripheral configurations, for example, circular, can be used, the ultimate peripheral configuration being primarily dependent on the shape of the set-up tray being used. Therefore, although the invention has been described in considerable detail with particular reference to a certain preferred embodiment, variations and modifications can be affected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in the appended claims.

What I desire to claim and protect by Letters Patent is: 1. A dental setup tray comprising, in combination a tray having a substantially fiat bottom and upstanding sides about the periphery of said bottom, said trays upstanding edges being configured to cooperate with rails of a tray storage cabinet, and

an implement mat removably positionable on the bottom of said tray and having peripheral dimensions substantially the same as the dimensions of said setup trays bottom, said mat including a first area of ribbed cross-sectional configuration molded in said mat for pressing inctruments in predetermined positions and a second area of a substantially fiat mixing surface formed on said mat and of at least one well molded in said mat for presenting medicament containers in an upright position.

2. A dental set-up tray as set forth in claim 1 wherein said mat further includes a third area of a plurality of slits formed in said mat for presenting dental sanding discs in upright position and of a plurality of apertures formed in said mat for presenting dental burrs in upright position.

3.' A dental setup tray as set forth in claim 1 wherein said implement mat is formed from a flexible plastic material.

4. A dental setup tray as set forth in claim 1 wherein said implement mat has a coefficient of friction between about 0.3 and about 0.7.

5. A dental setup tray as set forth in claim 3 wherein said material comprises polyvinyl chloride.

6. A dental setup tray as set forth in claim 3 wherein said .material comprises a copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate.

7. A dental setup tray as set forth in claim 4 wherein the coefficient of friction is between about 0.4 and about 0.6.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 896,432 8/1908 Booth 206-72 935,420 9/1909 Smith 206-72 2,790,547 4/1957 Sutton 206-72 JAMES B. MARBERT, Primary Examiner. 

